Hmm. Although I don't feel like I'm in the bullseye of this, the post makes a pretty good point about why Big Bang Theory has rather started to annoy me more than amuse. Also the comparison to Community is pretty insightful.

Well, I enjoyed the series at first, it was fun to see science that wasn't just technobabble and apart from MMORPGs, writing that seemed to understand the pop culture topics and it got a lot of laughs out of me (YMMV, of course). Lately it's just gotten... well, mean in a way that doesn't really appeal to me. I don't really feel I'm in the crosshairs of that meanness (and wouldn't really care), but it feels a certain kind of warmness towards the characters has leeched out of the writing.

@Vorn & WillThe most apt comparison I've heard regarding Big Bang Theory / Community is this:Big Bang Theory is a show about normal people watching normal people pretend to be nerds.Community is a show about nerds watching nerds pretend to be normal people.

I've been enjoying the show's revisionist take on the Holmes/Watson dynamic (and thoroughly enjoying the performances of Jonny Lee Miller & Lucy Liu in the roles), but the actual case-of-the-week aspect has been mostly weak. This weeks's episode - simply titled M - concentrated instead on a striking variation on the Holmes canon.

Spoilery bit:

In short: The show established early that Irene Adler is dead, which caused Holmes's drug addiction. This week brought the erstwhile serial killer responsible to New York.Except... he's not a serial killer. He's an assassin. And he didn't kill Adler - he was banged up in Brixton nick at the time.

The killer's name is Sebastian Moran. He killed on orders from a man called Moriarty.And bugger me, he's played superbly by Vinnie Jones.